Branded by Alissa Quart

Alissa Quarts novel should lay d receive had a pattern label on the front stating, Would you protestardised to k with push through delay whats real loss on some you or fitting keep c beer sentence your life. While reading this novel I felt like I was beingness led by Morpheus, memorialiseing me the gentlemans gentleman after ingesting the blood-red pill. Quart explaining the different pressures that society forces on early teens was genuinely m further opening. Quart sparked a batch of childhood memories when explaining tick identification and the pressures peers induct on to each one other. One memory that real sticks show up is walk through the m each(prenominal) with my mom and purchasing c ropehes for the start of 7th grade.I insisted on precisely leaving to Abercrombie and telling her that I wasnt shopping at Old Navy or Gap any(prenominal) much. Looking back made me realize how around the b abolish I was, scarce I understand w presentfore I fe lt this substance. Quart explains how marketers bombarde magazines, commercials, billboards, etc with their advertisements. hindquarters in s tied(p)th grade, Abercrombie was feeble. E genuinely ane wanted to be one of those sexy models in their ads. Quart did obtain me feel a myopic brainwashed I didnt choose the c hookinghes because I desire them solely simply because advertisements told me too.So much of our daily lives has media exposure that its hard non to look, peculiarly at young ages when your open to al some any involvement. CINEMA OF THE IN-CROWD This chapter was one of my favorites because outlet to the movies is nighthing Ive al managements enjoyed. However, Ive never archetype nearly how they were touching me afterwards and the product integration that was taking place. Honestly what Quart describes re bothy works. When you watch a movie your not mooting, Oh this must be an advertisement, or at that place beneficial trying to use up me to buy that. The products and the people employ them atomic number 18 apart of the movie and its very hard to decipher totally of this when all you wanted was to watch a story. It did get me a little disheartened that something I in reality enjoy is getting provoked by marketers solely now I feel a lot more aware and pass on try to not let them get to me. FACTS Shes on the whole That, institute It On, Clueless, Legally Blonde,Varsity Blues and Mean Girls. Mean Girls came out after this record book was written provided it perfectly fits into the mold these movies bear created and further shows the power this genre holds.What has made these movies so common and why were they all a must see when they came out? First, each of these movies has a popular crowd and one of these popular people has a problem. This doesnt sound like a plot that would grab a lot of attention, but thats only because its not about the plot. These movies bring huge crowds because its the people in it. With out Alic ia Silverstones smile in Clueless or Reese Witherspoons long blonde hair the movies would demand unquestionably been different. So I am convinced that the first thing you requisite to make a blockbuster movie is attractive people. flake you need them to wear bring out or designer clothes. This is showcased in Bring It On when basi watchwordy all they wear throughout the movie is revealing cheering outfits and workout wear. The Third aspect is particularly showcased within these films because of The breakfast Club and the infamous Ally Sheedy transformation at the end. This aspect is the makeover. I never caught on to this until reading this chapter. Each of these movies has the main(prenominal) character go through some sort of change and of course the change only makes them better looking and more popular.The third aspect isnt impudent but the film al styles tries to mask it as something that you wouldnt expect. I feel that this is done so people, especially young people, don t catch on. VALUES These movies also has the ring of a diary entry, of what life is sincerely like when our parents or teachers leave the room (Quart 78). This is the key particle when trying to decipher what the care for is amongst these movies. What is really going on here when you strip the stars of their war paint, clothes, and posh attitudes? Sadly, its popularity, only because these teens will do anything to be popular.This is what motivates them throughout the entire movie and in detail is what gets them into most of their trouble. to a fault popularity is the one thing that they will throw out everything for. If your not popular, your secret code is the message young teens are coming away with. These movies get away with a rank like this because there is so much applications programme it up. Amongst the comedy, drama, and violence its hard to figure out what all of this is means. I dont feel like popularity is a comfortably value for a movie to take a leak.Before reading this chapter I pictured these movies as great, some even as a must see. that now Im disgusted and look at them as shallow. Popularity is nonsensical however if I was writing this paper in middle naturalize or exalted groom I wouldnt be agreeing with myself. This leads me to the question, Do you only see the stupidity of it all when its over? honorablely now I would do to say yes, because when these movies came out I was at the age they were targeting and this is very silly to say but, I admired all of the main characters in these movies.I once thought Elle Woods in Legally Blonde was fortitudeous, it made me want to be a lawyer. But now I realize that I only looked at her this way because she was popular and she needed to maintain her popularity by going to law school. PRINCIPLES These movies need to be applied to Kants categorial imperative. What these movies bring are good looking people. However, because their attractive people dont look at what they are doing as much as just looking at them. In patch because their hot they get away with a lot more. When you apply Kants philosophy it tares down these movies even more.This is because Kant states that its not whose doing it but what the action is in itself. So take away Alicia Silverstone, Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Rachael Leigh Cook, and James train Der Beek. Now all you have are their actions trying to uphold their value. Since their value is popularity most of their actions are aimed towards how to become more popular. This is the most apparent in Mean Girls and the lead Lindsay Lohan. Taking Lindsay Lohan out of the picture and only reading the script it is very apparent that the main character Cady hoagy is a liar.All of these lies are aimed towards trying to make herself more popular than Regina George. At the end Cady gets sort of a wake up call but everything still comes unneurotic for her. When this movie came out it was huge it was all over TV, the inter net, and in school. For this movie to have such a hulking opening I know it impacted alot of teenagers and I know it influenced them to do what ever it takes to be popular. Especially when there was a string of movies right before it that glorifies popularity its nearly impossible to tell teenagers that popularity doesnt thing.These movies have created a society of young adults that only care what others think of them and alone meandering(a) their feelings regarding themselves. If a student isnt viewed as popular among their peers they are going to dislike their body, their clothes, or whatever it is that they feel is holding them back from being surface liked. LOYALTIES Each main character has one main loyalty, this is themselves. All of them throughout the movie try to better themselves, some propagation through buying designer clothes, wearing makeup, or the extreme of going to law school.The vain nature in all of these characters makes the viewers very aware that this is a cceptable. no(prenominal) of these movies help others in a way that is selfless. Yes, Cher in Clueless tries to make over Ty, Brittany Murphys character, but Cher admits that its only for her own enjoyment, she even goes far enough to call Ty her project. The characters loyalties also extends to their brand names they use, but I feel that this loyalty is only to uphold their loyalty to themselves because the brand names make them cooler. I feel that these movies have been a atom smasher for formative surgery.When someone gets plastic surgery it is to better themselves. These movies showcase that its acceptable to do this through the characters actions. Most of the characters go to the mall to make themself feel better or they start putting on makeup so their peers like them more. The characters even backstab each other to make themself more popular. I feel that these story lines not only increase plastic surgery but also fights in school. I feel like students pay more attention t o what each other are doing than the school work.Young minds are comfortably influenced and its especially hard to erase the well put together images that these movies create. Although teenagers wouldnt openly admit that their using these characters as role models its hard to argue their not. Most teenagers actions are completely mimicking the main characters of these movies and honestly I feel like its not their fault, especially because I used to do the same thing. CINEMA OF THE IN-CROWD CONCLUSION Overall not every movie is like this but the handful that are do a lot more damage than the society realizes.Although, of course, if these movies were removed from theaters teenagers will always act sort of like this but I powerfully feel that these movies dont help the situation. These movies also glorify the actions that teenagers are supposed to be learning not to do. Since these movies are teaching kids to be popular no matter what and to only think of yourself Im not surprised abo ut the reports of what happens in todays middle and high schools. The rat line is teenagers need to be educated on what is right and wrong. If they are aware that you should lways try to be themselves and to help others selflessly these movies messages wont be brainwashing them as badly as they could. UNBRANDED/ DIY KIDS This section of the book was particularly interesting because I wasnt aware of all of the ways kids are rebelling. I thought this section was a overnice conclusion to the first half because it gave me hope that some students do think for themselves. It actually made me really proud that some had the courage to stand up to their own principles and faculties. I know that I wouldnt have had the guts to do something like that, especially alone.I thought it was really cruel the way they were teased by their peers. When did conforming start to be cool? I also has no idea about students going to schools with no grading system. I think this is great and I really liked t he quirky concepts that the home schooled students had. It was a very relieving section, the contrasts between the way the kids conform to other nonconformists could be its own book. FACTS An estimated 850,000 Ameri piece of tail kids or 1. 7 percent of U. S. students from five to seventeen (Quart 203) are home schooled. Or as John Holt calls it unschooling. These unschooled kids are not a macroscopic part of the population and most of them never go to mainstream schools. I thought that the contrast between their outlook on schools and the Logo U chapter was very appealing. Both sides were extremes and I being in the middle realized how silly they both were being. I dont think its healthy to be either of them. I think kids should be enrolled in school because they get interaction with other kids their own age. On the other side, when you are enrolled in a mainstream school the child needs to be aware of whats going on around them and not get stressed out like the Logo U kids.I espe cially feel this way about unschoolers because Ive met home schooled kids and their usually out there. You can easily tell that these unschoolers arent the normal. Now this isnt bad now when their young but will an employer higher them. Since these unschoolers need to go out into the humankind eventually they will have to conform one way or another. Also, these days, you need a college degree so never going to college just because youve never gone to a regular school has its desex backs when trying to find a career. Quart also explains the roughneck scene.I have never been into punk but Ive always liked the way they rebelled. I think that doing your own thing. if thats how you feel, is very healthy and schools should be more accepting to this. Especially when this rebelliousness only lasts during the youth years. Theres no reason to stifle something like ripped jeans, flannel, and loud medicine it doesnt hurt anyone. VALUES The core value that both of these unschoolers and punk k ids have is to be yourself. Which is the complete opposite of the blockbuster movie value, popularity.I have to give both the unschoolers and punks credit because in a world where mostly everyone wants to be Alicia Silverstone or Freddie Prince Jr. its takes a lot of courage to do your own thing. I feel that in alot of ways its easier to just conform and not go against the grain. Quart entitled this chapter do it yourself kids because thats what these 2 companys have in common. When everyone else goes off to school the unschoolers stay home and do it themselves. On the other hand the punks may go to school but they do their own look, their own music, their own lifestyle which completely contradicts the mainstream preppy is cool mantra.In a lot of ways these kids are going to turn out as better adults. This is because they will be better parents. I feel strongly about this because my parents were punk like in a lot of ways when they were young. When they were teenagers in the 70s i t wasnt called punk, it was hippie. flower child and punk are basically the same thing except 2 different generations labeled it with different names. My parents were always telling me to be myself, and as a public school student I feel this took some pressure off of growing up.I knew that they would back me no matter what. Also, when it came quantify for college they told me straight out you dont have to go if you dont want to. This was completely contradicting what my friends parents were saying and it took a lot of anxiety off of my shoulders when acceptance letters came in. LOYALTIES The loyalty that each multitude has is to their own cliques that they have created. I think this because unschooled kids look at schooled kids as different and by them not wanting to be in a clique they have created their own.Through the home schooled kids i have known, they told me how they would meet other unschoolers and would create their own groups within that. So actually they are forming what they tried to avoid. Home schooled kids in some ways can have pompous attitudes, acting like their better because they dont do what everyone else does. Ive even met unschooled kids here, at MU. When I asked him what high school he went to he cockily stated I didnt go to high school, I didnt have to. Its not intermediate to say that all home schooled kids are like this but its definitely out there.For the punk kids they have their own loyalty to each other. It was very apparent in my high school because they would always walk together in the hallways and smoke cigarettes in large groups on the curb. No one bothered them but they made it very obvious they were their own group and they all identified with each other. This is something Quart didnt discuss. She made each group sound very independent but in fact they are dependent within each other. PRINCIPLES John Stuart Mills expediency principle can better explain the do it yourself kids perception. The utility principle emphas izes the event.The outcome that both groups want is to not have a mainstream. Also stated in the utility principle is an acts rightness and how this is determined by its contribution to a sexually attractive end. I feel that both groups have a desirable end in mind. The punk kids, especially just want to do their own thing. Their basement concerts show this because they are just trying to have fun, theirs no marketing involved, no celebrities, just kids in a band. I have gone to a few local shows like this and its a completely different vibe than at a mainstream high profile band.The local shows shows the joy of music with out all of the fluff the mainstream music throws in. The outcome is more genuine than anything Ive seen at Madison Square Garden. unbranded showed me that it is possible to live within this society and not be lured into everything you see. These kids show how you can think for yourself and do what you want. All of my life I have been a basically mainstream pers on. However, this book as a whole as taught me to open my eyes and realize whats going on around me. it truly is a lot more evading than I thought.At times while reading this book I felt like I was completely brainwashed. I think every parent should read this book so that their aware of whats going on around their children. Its a lot different then when my parents grew up and most of the time they dont realize the impact of these changes. I feel that the most important lesson a parent can learn from this book is to be aware and dont be afraid to talk about it. Communication is defiantly what kept me grounded in my household and I picture on sharing that with my children as well.